This is a new dialogue over the consequences of Brexit following the Corbyn-led Labour Party helping Theresa May get the second reading of the Tories’ Immigration Bill through on Wednesday 29th January

This dialogue came about in response to a posting Allan Armstrong made on the Republican Socialist Alliance list. It was also taken up by Phil Vellender (Editorial Board of The Chartist) on his Facebook page.

RIC Edinburgh has agreed to organise a contingent on the march to
emphasise RIC’s Scottish republicanism, internationalism and diversity.

We have new banners for the event including –

Another Scotland Is Possible, Another Europe Is Possible, Another World Is PossibleFor an Independent Scotland – Freedom Come All Ye – For Scottish InternationalismFor a Democratic, Secular, Inclusive, Sustainable, Social Scottish Republic

We will have Catalan flags and Palestine flags and welcome others too.

Allan Armstrong puts the case for building a Scottish-wide Left contingent on the ‘All Under One Banner’ march in Edinburgh on October 6th

EDINBURGH OCTOBER 6th – A RALLYING CALL FOR THE LEFT

35,000 in Glasgow, 10,000 in Inverness, 13,000 in Dumfries and 16,000 in Dundee – ‘All Under One Banner ‘ clearly represents something significant in Scottish politics. However it requires an examination of a wider politics going back to 2014 to appreciate the nature of this phenomenon.

The issue should never be in what direction the Scottish national independence movement should go but what is the best way a new Scotland can be created. It is from this approach that the future political movements can be built. Organisations and movements can limp from political crisis to another if they fail to critically examine their initial purposes. Self-censorship in order to obtain a Yes vote may produce an outcome that could be very undesirable. Continue reading “WHAT NOW FOR THE INDEPENDENCE MOVEMENT?”

Below is a leaflet from the ad-hoc Committee of Campaign for a European Republican Socialist Party being distributed at the Radical Independence Campaign’s Spring Conference in Edinburgh on March 10th.

Location of Dalmeny Declaration – Out of the Blue Centre, Dalmeny Street, Leith

SCOTLAND’S RATIFICATION REFERENDUM

The Scottish Ratification Referendum Act 2018 empowers the Scottish Government to hold a referendum on Thursday 6 February 2019 for all Scottish and EU citizens living in Scotland over sixteen years old. The people of Scotland will be asked:

Do you support the agreement between Her Majesty’s Government and the European Union?

Do you reject the agreement between Her Majesty’s Government and the European Union?

Gerry Cairns has published a new book, The Red and the Green: A Portrait of John Maclean. This makes use of new material relating to Maclean’s relationship with the struggle in Ireland. Stevie Coyle posted the following review on Facebook, and there is an edited version in February’s Irish Voice. Hopefully this informative review will be just the first review to address the issues that Gerry has raised.

THE RED AND THE GREEN: A PORTRAIT OF JOHN MACLEAN

Members of the Irish community were among those present at the launch of Gerard Cairn’s biography of John Maclean titled The Red and the Green: A Portrait of John Maclean.

In the aftermath of the Catalan referendum, Steve Freeman emphasis the republican aspect of the struggle.

THE CATALAN REPUBLIC

The demonstration organised by the Radical Independence Campaign at the Spanish Consulate in Edinburgh on October 1st.

Scotland’s first minister, Nicola Sturgeon, took a cautious line on Catalan independence. She hoped that “dialogue will replace confrontation”. She called for a way forward that “respects the rule of law” and also “respects democracy”. She refused to say if the Scottish government would recognise the result of the disputed referendum. She told Andrew Marr: “I consider myself a friend of Spain”.

Spain is nothing in this context but its ruling class exercising political power through its crowned, unionist, ‘Francoist’ state. Sturgeon is giving comfort to the enemies of the Catalan people in the hope they will be more favourable to the Scottish government’s quest for independence under the crown. The leaders of the Scottish National Party want to keep friends with the queen of England and the king of Spain. Continue reading “THE CATALAN REPUBLIC”

3. THE DIFFERENCE BETWEEN SOCIAL DEMOCRACY, OFFICIAL AND DISSIDENT COMMUNISM

AND A POLITICS BASED ON EMANCIPATION, LIBERATION AND SELF DETERMINATION

Contents of part 3

a. The limits placed on social democracy during a crisis of global capitalism

b. From revolutionary democratic social democracy to existing state-accommodating reformist social democracy

c. A further shift in the meaning of social democracy; the brief emergence of an alternative revolutionary democratic communism; and the descent to state-backed official communism and dissident communism

d. Social democracy and official communism morph into social neo-liberalism

e. From social liberalism to populism

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a. The limits placed on social democracy during a crisis of global capitalism

i. We are living through a period of unprecedented global crisis – political, economic, social, and cultural. This means that ideas will be tested continuously. A democratic party based on the exploited and oppressed will have people from a whole number of tendencies – communist (as outlined in 2.f.iii), republican socialist, social democratic, movementist, green socialist, socialist feminist, environmental, etc. Continue reading “A CRITIQUE OF JEREMY CORBYN AND BRITISH LEFT SOCIAL DEMOCRACY, Part 3”